This study explores strategies to enhance cooperative perceptions in online discussion forums within computer-supported cooperative learning (CSCL). It examines four strategies: social interdependence, summarizing, scripts, and synchronicity, using an experimental-control design with 617 nursing students. Summarizing and scripts positively impacted motivation, peer relations, and academic achievement. Unexpectedly, students working alone had higher short-term achievement scores than those in asynchronous cooperative conditions. The study provides insights into the boundary conditions of social interdependence in asynchronous computer-mediated communication and highlights the benefits of summarizing and scripts.